Sacrifice fly
In baseball, a batted ball is considered a sacrifice fly if the following four criteria are met: * There are fewer than two outs when the ball is hit. * The ball is hit to the outfield. * The batter is out because an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield catches the ball (or would have been out if not for an error). * A runner who is already on base scores on the play. As addressed within Rule 10.09(e) of the Official Baseball RulesOfficial Baseball Rules , a sacrifice fly is not counted as a turn at bat for the batter, though the batter is credited with a run batted in. The purpose of not counting a sacrifice fly as an at bat is to avoid penalizing hitters for a successful tactical maneuver. The sacrifice fly is one of two instances in baseball where a batter is not charged with a time at bat after putting a ball in play; the other is the sacrifice hit. However, a sacrifice fly still reduces a player's on base percentage, and a player on a hitting streak will have the hit streak end if he has no official at-bats but he has a sacrifice fly. The sacrifice fly is credited even if another runner is put out on appeal for failing to tag up, so long as a run scores prior to the third out. In the case of a fly ball dropped for an error, the sacrifice fly is only credited if the official scorer believes the run would have scored had the ball been caught. Records The most sacrifice flies by a team in one game is five; the record was established by the Seattle Mariners in 1988 and tied by the Colorado Rockies in 2006Torrealba's slam, five sac flies power Rockies past Bucs, ESPN News. and then tied again in 2008 by the Seattle MarinersSeattle Mariners ride flurry of sacrifice flies to 11-6 victory over Kansas City Royals.. Since the rule was reinstated in its present form, Gil Hodges of the Dodgers holds the record for most sacrifice flies in one season with 19, in 1954;Single Season Records, baseball-reference.com. Eddie Murray holds the record for most sacrifice flies in a career with 128.Career Records, baseball-reference.com. As of the 2007 season , players who have hit 115 or more career sacrifice flies:Historical Player Stats, MLB.com. # Eddie Murray (128) # Cal Ripken, Jr. (127) # Robin Yount (123) # Hank Aaron (121) # George Brett (120) # Rubén SierraPlayer active (as of 2007). (120) # Rafael Palmeiro (119) # Frank Thomas (119) # Daniel "Rusty" Staub (119) # Andre Dawson (118) # Don Baylor (115) History Batters have not been charged with a time at-bat for a sacrifice hit since 1893, but baseball has changed the sacrifice fly rule multiple times. The sacrifice fly as a statistical category was instituted in 1908, only to be discontinued in 1931. The rule was again adopted in 1939, only to be eliminated again in 1940, before being adopted for the last time in 1954. References External links * [http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/official_scorer_10.jsp MLB Official Rules: 10.00 The Official Scorer], from the Major League Baseball website *Chronology that includes the chronology of the sacrifice fly rule, from baseballlibrary.com Category:Plays Category:Statistics